Picture Book Public Sphere

I stumbled upon a very funny post this morning by Jacob Lambert.

He asks, Are Picture Books Leading our Children Astray?, reviewing five classic children’s books like Caps for Sale and Curious George.

His take on these classic tales is refreshing and very funny – like his suggestion that there is more fun to be found in watching Elizabethtown with a corpse on your lap than in reading Curious George.

But what I found perhaps even funnier than his post was the comments that followed.

But my favourite was in response to Lambert’s review of Blueberries for Sal which he suggests gave him the impression that grizzly bears are all just chillin in the woods – an impression which he says led him dangerously close to becoming “a wet pile of organs” when he was nearly attacked by a bear in 2000.

Lambert’s article has made me think twice about some of the reviews I post here- as some of you pointed out in my very own comments section on my post Old MacDonald had a Slaughterhouse, I can sometimes read a little too much into my stories.

Ignoring the fact that that’s kind of the point for a second, let’s talk about those comments.

Contrary to what Geert Lovink would say about most bloggers, I do aim to foster public debate with my blog. My main priority with my content is not the creative value but the actual messages – that is, I would rather you engage with what I write, rather than how I write it.

Which is why I always appreciate when you comment on my blogs and contribute to the discussion I have tried to start. I’ve turned off all the moderation settings for my comments because I want you to be able to freely share your thoughts – regardless of whether they coincide with mine.

In an ideal world, my blog would be a non-hierarchical space to share ideas where noone has power to delete anyone’s ideas and noone’s voice is any louder than anyone else’s. Kind of like a picture book public sphere, if you will.

This is difficult, obviously because this is my blog and I’m always going to be the centre of the Harlot’s Web Universe. Turning off moderation settings and letting discussions go where they will is a part of my effort to eliminate any hierarchical structure of discussion.

So please, disagree with me. I don’t want to preach to the choir here, as Geert Lovink suggests bloggers do. I want to tell you what I think but what good is it if you already know and agree with it all?

If you’ve got something to say, say it.

The best part of blogging about children’s books – compared with say, politics or war is that what we all write here can actually make a difference.

I don’t need to inspire the masses or motivate political action because all I want to do is tell you about the great books I read and hope you share some with me – and each other.

Sharing a good story with even one reader makes a difference, so I hope you will all continue to read and contribute to discussions and engage with my picture book public sphere.

That’s all from me today anyway. I’d say please comment but I’m hoping you’ve already got that by now.

So on that note, I leave you with my favourite comment from Old MacDonald had a Slaughterhouse, sadly from an Anonymous writer so I can’t link out to them:

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